Road construction



A. R. BULLOCK. ROAD CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 13. 1919-.

1,367,236. Patnwd Feb.'1, 1921.

m w, Y fl W ARTHUR R. BULLOCK, OF LAKEWOOD, OHIO.

ROAD consrnuc'rron.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 13, 19m. Serial n. 330,183.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR H. BULLOCK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lakewood, in the county of (Juyahoga, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road Construction, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to a con! struction which is'ada'pted to be employed as a road or highway construction, particularly interurban highways or country roads.

The object of the invention is to provide a road construction having portions thereof which usually receive vehicle travel, constructed in such a fashion as to be highly resistant to wear and abrasion incident to travel of vehicles on the road and also to provide a construction wherein the road provides a surface for vehicle travel which to a large measure prevents the sliding o1 skidding of vehicles, and furthermore, provides a construction which may be laid at much iess cost than concrete or brick roads as at the present constructed.

The present invention relates to the same general subject matter as that disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 311,872 but in the present invention the same general results maybe obtained by a construction which may be provided at much less cost.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification in which Figural 'is' a top plan view of a road embodying my invention; F 2131s a section of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 isa top plan View of certainelements 1n the as only to accommodate a single vehicle or it may be of such width as to accommodate two vehicles abreast.

In the present instance the roadway may be constructed so to fulfil either or both the conditions.

y The road vehicles as at present constructed have their ground engaging wheels spaced a certain (21151331108 apart and these vehicles when passing over a road usually pretty closely follow a given direction of travel inasmuch as the rule of the road is that vehicles shall keep to the right, therefore it is my conception that there is no necessity of constructing a. road such as a concrete or brick roadwith acontinuing top surface but if; is only necessary to provide as it were parallel tracks of sufficient width to accommodate vehicles of whatever wheel gage and to fill inlthe space between what I term the track portions with dirt, sand, gravel or cinders.

Referring to the drawings, wemayconsider lasrepresenting a highway, the top surface ofwhich is composed of dirt, cinders or other material. Extending along the highway, and in spaced relationship are two continuing strips of concrete or similar material such as indicatedat 2. These strips are spaced apart a given distance and this spaced relation continues throughout their length.-

The strips 2 are of sufiicient width so that the wheels of vehicleshaving different gages may conveniently be accommodated upon the strips 2. v

The strips may be most conveniently formed of concrete and in laying the strips, suitable parallel trenches may be provided in the surface of the road and a body of concrete laid in these trenches.

The depth of the body of concrete will be such as to give the body a firm anchorage in the road bed. f

Embedded in the concrete are a series of metallic plates which adjoin each other end on end and in alinement. These metallic bodies being indicated at 3 and they extend coincident with the length of the strips 2. I These metallic bodies 3 are embedded in the concrete and adjacent the upper surface of the concrete so that the travel of the wheels of vehicles passing over the road will be upon these metallic plates, thus the wear comes upon these plates and not directly upon the concrete.

The plates 3 may very readily be constructed in such a manner as to provide 'what I term an anti-skid surface. That is to say, they may be so fashioned as to substantially prevent the slipping of vehicle wheel tires as they pass over the road.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

In the present instance I provide a series of segments'which are interlocked one with the other in such fashion that the segments form in effect a continuous body embedded 1n the concrete strips thereby forming not only a reinforcing element for the concrete,

but due totheir interlocking action, form a continuous metallic body in themselves so J which the flange 4 is located. Each segment adjacent the apex or the part where the ribs 6 converge is formed with recesses 7 and 8 and adjacent the widest portion of the segment lugs 9 and 10 are provided.

Each segment is provided with oppositely disposed openings 11 and 12 as shown in Fig. 4. v

The segments are substantially alike and are arranged so as to dovetail with each other as shown in'Fig. 3'in which the projections 9 and 10 of each segment cooperate with the openings 7 and '8 of adjacent segments. I

It should be noted however, that the segments having the rib 4: are those segments which have their base portions toward each other, while the wide portions of the segments which extendtoward the outside of the road are not so provided with segments. A segment such as described without the flan e or rib 4e is indicated at 13 in Fig. 3.

vi hen the segments are arranged as shown in Fig. 3 the openings 11 and 12 in any given segment are oppositely disposed with respect to a similar opening in an adjacent segment and for the purpose of securing the segments together I utilize a link such as indicated at 14: which is of sufiicient length to extend through the openings formed i the adjacent segments. The link is secured V in place by inserting pinsl'S and 16 through V will join the thelink and bearing against an inside of the rib through which the opening that receives the link is formed. These pins are of such size as when driven in, that they will exert a wedging action and in accordance with the degree of wedging action exerted they segments more or less rigidly together;

From the foregoing it will be seen that the interlocking action between the se ments is secured through the projections upon the segments cooperating with the recesses in adjacent segments and by the joining of the segments through the links 14.

' Thesesegments are embedded in the concrete so thatthe top surface of the segments is substantially flush with the top surface of the concrete of the strips 2.

The ribs 6 are spaced apart thereby providing spaces between the same which spaces are filled by the concrete when the segments are embedded therein.

As will be seen from the drawing the ribs 6 of each segment extend in a diagonal direction with respect to the long axis of: the segment thereby forming a surface which tends to prevent side slipping oi a vehicle wheel which is passing over the same.

When the strips oi concrete 2 with their embedded segments are laid in a roadway, the space between the strips may be filled with dirt, cindcrs or other material, so a. to form a substantially flush road surface.

The segments with the ribs 4- are provided for the purpose of providing a rib or ridge which if engaged by the wheel of a vehicle passing along the strips, tends to prevent the wheel of the vehicle from leaving the strip. In other words it acts a. a llnrgc on a trackway to assist in guiding the wheels of the vehicle if perchance the wheels, of: the vehicle should tend to ride off of the strips which form the runway or traclmvzrv oi the road.

In the drawings I have shown :1 road construction which permits two vehicles to pass abreast thereby providing a tracltway for travel in both directions. It should, however, be understood that this is not essential as a single pair of concrete strips may be used in which event vehicles will pass each other by one of the vehicles turning out and into the dirt road.

The construction which has been described may be laid at a comparatively low cost and it is entirely possible to use for the purpose a cheaper concrete mixture containing sufiicient cement to form rigidity and strength to hold the metal segments. but it does not need to be of the customary rich dense concrete as ordinarily used in road construction in an attempt to provide a surface which will withstand the wear and tear incident to vehicles passing over the same.

As shown in the right hand portion of Fig. 2, I may use a tiered, such as indicated at 19, which will extend between the adjacent strips of concrete, the opposite end portions of the bars or tierods being en1- bedded in the concrete so that the tierod forms a spacing and retaining element between the strips of concrete to prevent spreading or relative movement between the strips of concrete.

These tierods, such as indicated at 19, may be positioned at frequent intervals throughout the extent of the strips.

' As shown at the left hand side of Fig. 2,

the tiered instead of being directly embedded in the concrete, may be secured till lllt) the concrete.

through short lugs, such as indicated at 20 formed on the under sides of certain of the metallic members which are embedded in The rods are secured to the projections 20, and therefore portions of the rod are embedded in the concrete. The purpose and function of the rods just described are the same as that previously described.

The segments with the ribs 4; are provided for the purpose of providing a rib or rid e which if engaged by the wheel of a vehitfie passing along the strips, tends to prevent the wheel of the vehicle from leaving the strip. In other words it acts as a flange on a trackway to assist in guiding the wheels of the vehicle if perchance the wheels of the vehicle should tend to ride off of the stri s whigh form the runway or trackway of t e roa In the drawin s I have shown a road construction which permits two vehicles to pass abreast thereby providing a trackway for travel in both directions. It should, however, be understood that this is not essential as a single pair of concrete strips may be used in which event vehicles will pass each other by one of thevehicles turn- 1n out and into the dirt road.

The construction which has been described may be laid at a comparatively low cost and it is entirely possible to use for the purpose a cheaper concrete mixture containing sufiicient cement to form rigidity and strength to hold the metal segments, but it does not need to beof the customary rich dense concrete as ordinarily used in road construction in an attempt to provide a surface which will withstand the wear and tear incident to vehicles passing over the same.

Attention is drawn to the fact that the segments are so constructed as to be over lappin with respect to each other so that a vehic e wheel in passing over the segments makes contact with a succeeding segment before each haseentirely left contact with a preceding segment. This obviates the development of bumps in the road which might be the case in the event that the ribs passed transversely instead of diagonally.

While I have described theroad construction as a straight road construction, it will be apparent that the general construction employed is applicable to curves in the road by simply modifying the shape of the segment to accommodate the curve where the curve is sufficiently sharp.

There the curve in the road is but a gradual curve, such as the usual windings of the road, there is sufficient flexibility in the connection between the adjacent segments to accommodate such curves.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. A roadway comprising parallel strips of concrete lying substantially flush with the road surface and alined members embedded in each of the strips of concrete, said members being connected with each other to permit a limited amount of flexibility.

2. A roadway comprising parallel spaced concrete strips, alined members embedded in each of said strips, each of said members having its top surface formed with diagonal ribs which ribs are embedded in the said concrete and means connecting the said members which permits a limited amount of flexibilitiy.

3. A roa way comprising parallel spaced concrete strips, alined members embedded in each of said strips, each of said members having its top surface formed with diagonal ribs which ribs are embedded in said concrete.

4. A roadway comprising parallel concrete strips, alined members embedded in each of said strips, each of said members being formed with extensions and depressions, the extensions engaging in depressions of adjacent members and means by which the said members are articulated to ether.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto a x my signature.

ARTHUR R. BULLOCK. 

